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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24185935">Afterparty</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tragedyofthemithraeum/pseuds/tragedyofthemithraeum'>tragedyofthemithraeum</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mask of Shadows (Linsey Miller)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, M/M, Mask of Shadows - Freeform, Ruin of Stars, Spoilers, i hate the word angst but i'm putting it as a tag so i can maybe get a single hit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:01:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,034</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24185935</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tragedyofthemithraeum/pseuds/tragedyofthemithraeum</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Sal is named Opal, there's an afterparty. And an afterparty to the afterparty.</p><p>And, of course, some blood.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ruby/Partially Original Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Afterparty</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a rewrite of the ending of Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller, which I couldn't find any fics for on here so I'm adding one, you're welcome, if anyone even sees this lmao this fandom is nonexistent</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I told you we’d have an afterparty. Now take off that damned mask and talk to us.”</p><p>Ruby was grinning his crooked grin, jagged but still endearing. He was lying on his side on the common room couch, head propped up on his elbow, blank mask thrown on the floor and casting random glints of red across the ceiling as the fire flickered on the other side of the room.</p><p>Emerald and Amethyst had their masks off too, though they had taken up more dignified positions, sitting with their legs crossed on separate armchairs. Emerald’s jeweled eye caught the fire’s light as well, and it looked a bit creepy. Amethyst was gazing off into space, paying no attention whatsoever.</p><p>Sal - Opal now, although they would always be Sal in their mind and heart - slowly undid their mask, placing it gingerly on the floor, black hair tumbling over their forehead as they smirked.</p><p>“What else is there to talk about?” they said. </p><p>Ruby kept right on grinning. “Well, your Lady at the dance earlier, for starters,” he said, idly tapping his fingers against his thigh. “And your atrocious dancing. Your bows are fine, but your footwork, my, my -”</p><p>“And what can you say about footwork?” said Emerald, smirking. “Your young Lord kept tripping over your feet. Your fault, at least a little.”</p><p>Ruby smiled, bashfully this time. “No, his fault entirely, he’d never danced before.”</p><p>Amethyst suddenly snapped her head out of the heavens, zeroing in on Emerald.</p><p>“What about you, miss?” she said, tilting her head. “I’ve never seen you dance. Can’t criticize dear Rodolfo here without proof of your own grace, can you?”</p><p>Sal stiffened visibly. “Rodolfo?” they said, peering over at Ruby, who had stopped tapping his fingers all of a sudden.</p><p>“Um. I didn’t mean -” started Amethyst, but Ruby cut in.</p><p>“No, it’s fine,” he said. “Yes, Rodolfo. Rodolfo dal Abreu. Uh… pleasure to meet you?”</p><p>Sal had visibly stiffened. And they were truly Sal in this moment, not Opal, memories of the war and the destruction Erlend had brought upon their soul suddenly all they could think about.</p><p>“You killed the ones who made shadows,” they said, drawing out each syllable, as if the statement were a question.</p><p>“Yes,” said Ruby, the slight fear in him barely suppressed.</p><p>“But… you’re dead,” said Sal.</p><p>Emerald lowered her head and spoke. “It’s better if everyone thinks he’s dead. Otherwise, he’d be a targeted war criminal. He’s hidden beneath his mask, safe among us. It’s the only way for him to remain alive, in case…” She paused, looking down, quite uncharacteristic of her. “In case the shadows ever come back.”</p><p>Sal nodded, staring at the floor, focusing on the light of the fire and trying to ignore the shadows that suddenly flickered in their vision in the dark corners of the room, the places untouched by the firelight. </p><p>“So now you know me,” said Ruby, shrugging nervously. “I, um, I’m going to go to the bathroom. May I be excused, Lady Emerald?”</p><p>Emerald said nothing and did not move, and Ruby scuttled from the room, running his fingers through his hair. Amethyst looked about ready to slap herself in the face, and Sal’s eyes were shut tight.</p><p>“Way to lighten the mood,” Amethyst muttered.</p><p>“It’s fine,” said Emerald, turning to Sal. “Now you know how important he is, and now we don’t have any secrets. Unless there’s anything you’d like to tell us.”</p><p>Sal’s eyes flickered open. “Nothing you don’t know,” they murmured, fiddling with their fingers. </p><p>And they all sat, not one of them knowing what to say.</p><p> </p><p>Ruby didn’t go to the bathroom. He went back out into the crowd of dancers, looking around aimlessly, finding a cup of water to ease his sudden headache, sitting on a windowsill in the corner. His mask was back on. No one paid him any mind, but surely someone would soon come talk to the oh-so-great Ruby, who definitely hadn’t murdered people and definitely didn’t shudder every day with the weight of the blood on his hands.</p><p>Such was the life of an assassin. </p><p>Fern found him soon enough. He had been searching, wondering where Ruby had gone off to, and as soon as he saw the glint of his red mask, he practically dashed off to the corner.</p><p>“Where were you?” he whispered, grasping Ruby’s hand.</p><p>“Off with the others,” said Ruby, gripping Fern’s hand back tightly. Fern knew better than to ask what was wrong; he didn’t want to send Ruby into a rage.</p><p>Ruby turned around to peer out the window into the darkness, and the glint of a sword immediately caught his eye.</p><p>It was Lord Nevierno del Farone and that little soldier boy, Five. Ruby squinted. Those two should not have been talking to each other, shouldn’t have even known each other.</p><p>“Shit,” Ruby muttered, and this time Fern had to ask. “What’s wrong?” </p><p>Ruby merely stared for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision. He lifted his mask up briefly and leaned in to kiss Fern quickly, slipping the metal plate back over his face in a heartbeat.</p><p>“If I don’t come back in thirty minutes, find a member of the Left Hand and tell them I’ve gone off into the palace grounds,” said Ruby. And with that, he pried open the window, hidden by the shadows of the room, and slipped outside, dropping to the ground almost noiselessly.</p><p>Fern hadn’t been prepared for that, but Ruby did as Ruby pleased, so he thought nothing of it.</p><p> </p><p>When Opal watched Ruby throw himself in front of Nevierno del Farone’s sword, they were torn apart. But they couldn’t show it. Not when Elise opened the door to find their knife at the lord’s throat, and not when Ruby was placed upon a pyre in front of the Queen and her remaining Left Hand.</p><p>They were incapable of tears; only an encroaching numbness alerted them to any sort of emotional reaction. Even Emerald cried, and Amethyst of course, and the Queen. But not Opal.</p><p>Opal couldn’t cry. Because Opal had a hit list, and Lord del Farone was now at the top.</p><p>And the Queen had no objections.</p>
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